Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was
shown on state television praying in a Damascus mosque to mark
the start of an Islamic holiday, a rare public appearance as
soldiers battle rebels in several cities.

State-run Syrian Television broadcast footage of Assad
praying at the Hamad mosque at end of the fasting month of
Ramadan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem and
other top officials.

Assad, who used to be seen with his wife at restaurants and
in public before the uprising began last year, has limited his
appearances since the fighting started. Rebels are pushing
forward with attacks and control large swaths of the country.

Assad spent 11 minutes at the mosque and didn’t linger to
talk to worshippers as was his previous practice, Dubai-based Al
Arabiya television said. Security at the mosque and in the
vicinity were stepped up starting yesterday, it said. Trash cans
were removed, bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in and elite
Republican Guard forces and snipers were deployed before dawn.

Protests in several cities and towns across Syria erupted
after morning prayers were held on the first day of Eid al-Fitr,
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook
page. It reported clashes in Hama, Daraa and Idlib and other
provinces, with at least 37 people killed across the country
today. The opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an
e-mailed statement that its activists in Darayya released
balloons marked with the names of the dead and their families on
the first day of the holiday.

Bomb Attack

Vice President Faruq al-Shara wasn’t among the officials
shown on television today with Assad. State television reported
yesterday that al-Shara’s office denied reports that he had left
the country and defected. Al Arabiya television had reported
that Shara had left for neighboring Jordan.

Last month, a bomb attack in Damascus killed key members of
the military establishment including Assad’s brother-in-law,
Assef Shawkat, Defense Minister Dawoud Rajhah and the vice
president’s military adviser, Hasan Turkmani.

The increasing violence led the United Nations mission in
Syria to suspend its activities in June. The mission’s mandate
ends today after the UN failed to extend it. The head of the
mission, Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, yesterday called on
all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to “stop this
violence that is causing such suffering to the innocent people
of Syria,” according to a transcript e-mailed by his office.